Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I made these beaded ornaments with the kids years ago and they still look pretty and sparkly on the tree.

School gets out on Thursday and with two weeks of snow-covered days ahead of us I may just pull out my beads and wire and let them make up some more of these in different colors.

Here's what you'll need for one ornament:

24 gauge wire (4 feet approximately)

6 inches of silver cord

16 8 mm white pearls

16 8 mm crystal faceted beads

48 3 mm white pearls

32 crystal bugle beads

ruler

needle nose pliers

1. Cut a 5 inch piece of wire and slip on eight 8 mm pearls. Twist the ends of the wire together tightly to form a circle of beads then trim off the excess and with the pliers tuck the sharp end into a tiny loop to protect against scratches.

2. Cut eight 5 inch pieces of wire and fold each piece of wire in half and wrap the center of the wire (at the fold) around the wire once in between each of the 8 mm pearls.

3. Make sure all the wires are straight and pointed outward so they don't get you all confused. You should have 16 separate wires radiating out from the circle of beads. Slip a silver bugle bead on each of the 16 wires (it should look like you see pictured at the right).

4. Slip the two pieces of wire that are around each of the pearl beads through a 8 mm crystal bead so that they're both threaded through the hole and each is positioned right above each of the pearl beads.

5. Slip three 3 mm pearl beads onto each of the wires coming out of each of the 8 mm crystals. Twist the two ends of wire together tightly and with the pliers trim the excess and fold into a tiny loop as you did before in step one.

It should look like you see here in the picture at the left. Set this piece aside for now.

6. Repeat steps one through four on the remaining beads and wire to make another circle of pearls, bugle beads and crystal beads.

7. Now to attach these two pieces together. Take two ends of wire coming from a crystal bead on one half and insert them around a crystal bead on the other half. Twist the ends of wire securely around the wire joint and trim the excess, making another tiny loop with the end (see the picture at the right).

8. Straighten things out until it looks more like a round beaded snowball.

9. Thread the cord through the outside row of 3 mm pearl beads and tie in a knot to make a loop for hanging on the tree.

Pretty huh? Not only are they pretty on a tree they're pretty in a window or tied on a present.

***

And if crafts aren't your thing this year and you have any lingering names on your gift list I'd happily suggest you check out these two sites:

The Fruit Company sends holiday fruit and gift baskets and I was thrilled to find one on my doorstep. Thrilled in a way that only chocolate-covered cherries can provoke.

I was sent the Snowman's Delight basket you see here and I should say that the snowmen weren't the only ones who were delighted. I don't know if I should confess it but I ended up snarfing down the entire bag of chocolate covered cherries entirely on my own. And the caramel corn.

I did eat one of the apples . . . in between the toffee-covered almonds. Gasp. Did I just say that out loud?

Anyway, gift baskets like this are always a nice way to go for presents for loved ones far away--especially at the last minute--and this one was highly pleasing.

Popcornopolis is another company that sends out gift baskets and has come to be a favorite of mine. I guess you'd say that they too do fruit baskets. Only they kind of skip the apples and pears and focus on just the caramel covered popcorn.

My kids try to argue all the time that corn is a vegetable so maybe this is kind of like a fruit basket--or veggie basket? Maybe?

But if you haven't yet tried their cinnamon-toast popcorn or the white-chocolate caramel corn you really haven't yet lived. That stuff is ta-sty! In fact twice now I've been sent bags of it and I've had to make people come over and try it for themselves and help me eat it just to save me from myself.

Nothing sadder than a woman hiding out in the closet eating her weight in caramel corn is there?

Anyway, another great place for last minute gifts. You can't go wrong with these guys--if chocolate covered cherries and cinnamon-toast popcorn can't win friends and influence people then nothing can.

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comments:

Also wanted to stop by your blog and thank you for my Scribbit prize. It arrived in the mail earlier this week. My son and I are sure to have tons of fun cutting out and decorating the Christmas cookies this year.

Absolutely love the beaded decors. Thanks for sharing the instructions on how to make them. Im going to have to check out those other sites later on too. MMMM the covered almonds, popocorn ball, my tummies growling. Gotta run now.

What a great ornament! Have you seen the snowflake wires? They have 3 wires soldered together in the middle to form a "snowflake". You just add beads to the branches and bend the wire ends back. Easy as pie, especially for kids or quick gifts.

My parents made some that were similar their first married Christmas (30+ year ago), and they've always been my favorite ornaments. Too bad my mom has no recollection of how they made them. But this gets me close! Thanks!

And I hear ya on the eating one's weight in caramel corn. That was me last night, and boy am I paying the price today! But it's SO darn good! I even got chocolate covered caramel corn! How could I resist?